Extremes
by EOshipper2010
Summary: Korra walks into training & starts crying, Bolin panics, but Mako doesn't even stop to think. Later, Korra shows up at the Bolin and Mako's apartment, but doesn't really want to explain. She just wants to feel safe. Makorra. Chapter 2 added by request.
1. Falling Apart

**A/N: ****Apparently, I'm on a MaKorra kick because this is my second story of the week featuring them. Yay fanfic?**

Mako could deal with extremes. He had to. When his and Bolin's parents were killed, he had to suddenly figure out how to take care of himself and Bolin and figure out how to survive without a home. It was sink or swim, and he wasn't about to drown. Maybe it was just stubbornness, but, whatever it was, it worked. It was part of why he was so good at pro-bending. He worked well with his team, but, when the other two members were knocked off and it became 3 versus him, that was when he really pulled through. It was an extreme and he dealt with it. Extremes are Mako's specialty and he's known this for years now.

He got so used to extremes that he can't really handle normal situations anymore. Well, he can handle them, but in his own little awkward way. The only exception was Bolin, but that's just because Mako knew Bolin practically better than he knew himself.

Then Korra came bounding into their lives. Mako kept himself guarded around her at first, but he eventually started warming up to her. She got along fabulously with Bolin, and tolerated Mako. Mako wasn't as horrible with her as he was most people. It worked for the three of them. When things were about to blow up between Korra and Mako, Bolin ran interference. He knew how to deal with the both of them. Bolin was probably the only person able to calm down Korra and Mako when they were a split-second from coming to blows.

So when Korra walks into the training room and throws her bag across the room before beginning to bend earth discs into the net as hard as she can, Mako rolls his eyes and goes back to his warm ups. It's unusual for her, but nothing major.

Mako hears Bolin asking her what's wrong, but what he hears next shocks him into turning back around.

Korra is sitting on the ground and sobbing. Bolin is standing next to her with a look of pure panic on his face.

Mako doesn't even stop to think.

In seconds, he's kneeling in front of Korra with his hands on her shoulders. "Korra? Korra, look at me." She shakes her head, and tries to push his hands off. She's still crying. He takes his hands off her shoulders and puts one on each side of her face. He brushes off a couple of tears with his thumbs and gently makes her meet his eyes. "Korra, it's going to be fine. Okay? It will be. It'll be okay." She stares at him for a moment before throwing herself into his arms.

Mako doesn't even flinch. He simply sits down and pulls her closer. He mumbles quiet comforts to her and has one arm around her back, holding onto her, and his other hand is running through her hair. She's crying into his chest now and clinging to him as if he's the last thing holding her together.

He lets her.

Bolin stares at his brother as if he's never seen him before, but Mako doesn't understand why. After all, extremes are Mako's specialty, and Korra crying definitely counts as an extreme.

**A/N: I'm still iffy on the last sentence, but I hope you liked the story! As always, reviews would be absolutely lovely. :)**


	2. Stay

**A/N: I had a lot of people wondering why Korra was crying and a couple of people asking for a second chapter, so here you go!**

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"_No Korra for practice again?"_

"_Doesn't look like it."_

_-The Legend of Korra, episode 4_

Despite popular belief, Mako was the heavy sleeper in his family, and Bolin was the one to wake up at the slightest sound. The brothers never understood why that was, but, over the years, they came to accept it. It didn't _really _matter anyways. If Bolin woke up and noticed something was wrong, he knew how to wake Mako up. Once awake, Mako would deal with it.

When someone knocked on the door of their apartment in the middle of the night, Bolin was the one to go answer the door while his brother merely pulled a pillow over his head to block out further noise. Rolling his eyes, Bolin stumbled toward the door in the dark. He pulls the door open with one hand while the other rubs at his eyes.

Korra is standing on their doorstep, staring at her shoes as if they're the most interesting thing in the world.

"Korra?" She nods, but continues staring at the ground. Bolin is unsure of what to do. Three days ago, she showed up at practice only to burst into tears, cry on Mako's shoulder, and claim that she had to go back to the island. They hadn't seen her since. Bolin suddenly wished he had stayed in bed and made Mako get the door. "Er... Do you want to come in?" She nods again so he opens the door wider and steps aside. She enters the apartment, but remains silent.

That's when Bolin has an idea.

"Wanna know a secret?" That gets her to look up. Before she's able to get an interruption, question, _whatever _out, he grins brightly. "Mako can sleep through most anything, but I know how to wake him up."

Korra blinks slowly. He had no idea what she expected him to say, but clearly that wasn't it. He tries not to let his smile be too smug.

"Yup, I'm able to leave the room and he doesn't even know. Heck, I could sleep on the couch and he wouldn't even notice until he wakes up the next morning and finds me." Bolin can practically see Korra connecting the dots so he smiles at her once more before saying, "The secret is to know what wakes him up. See, if someone were to poke him on his side just under his ribs, he'd wake right up. As long as I don't do that while I'm sneaking out to sleep on the couch, I'm just fine." He walks over to the couch and lays down. Once he notices Korra's still watching him, he throws her a wink. "Good night, Korra. Sleep well." He rolls over on the couch and pretends to fall asleep instantly which leaves Korra in the middle of the apartment without supervision.

She nearly manages a smile as she whispers, "Thank you, Bolin." A ridiculously fake snore is her answer. At that, a smile actually does appear on her face. She turns away and heads toward the back of the apartment where she assumes their bedroom is. Korra stops in front of the door and takes a deep breath before reaching out to open it.

She walks into the damn door when the knob doesn't turn like it's supposed to. Swearing and rubbing at her nose, she kicks the door in frustration. _Then _she realizes she's probably woken Mako up and he's probably pissed that she's making so much noise. And, you know, trying to kick in his door.

Sighing, she tries the door and this time waits to make sure it actually opens before trying to walk in. Once her path is clear, she steps into the room and closes her eyes. She's waiting for Mako to yell at her.

Nothing.

She slowly opens her eyes and immediately has to slap a hand over her mouth to stop her laughter from escaping. Mako is laying facedown on his bed, pillow on top of his head, one arm dangling off the side of the bed with his hand nearly touching the ground, and his sheets are tangled around his legs, trapping him. Korra walked over to his bed and gently poked him in the side, just like Bolin said.

She needs to remember not to trust Bolin.

Mako's reaction was instant. In a second, he was shooting up from bed. The problem? His blankets were still tangled around his legs which caused him to stumble and then fall onto the ground. The other problem? He took Korra down with him.

Mako pushed himself off the ground while swearing under his breath. That's when he noticed it wasn't Bolin he knocked over.

"Korra?"

"Yep."

"Shit."

Korra laughed weakly and sat up. From her spot on the floor, she looked up at the firebender standing above her. "Sorry I woke you?"

He stared at her as if she had grown a second head. "Right..." Shaking his head, he offered her a hand. She placed her hand in his and he pulled her up from the ground and steadied her when she swayed slightly. "You okay?"

"Do you always wake up that violently, city boy?"

"You're the one that showed up in my bedroom in the middle of the night." He paused. "Wait, why are you here?" Korra froze as images flashed through her head. Reminders of why she ran from Air Temple Island. Reminders that she wasn't okay. "Korra?" She was paler than Mako had ever seen her, and flinched when he placed his hands on her shoulders. He lowered his voice and shook her slightly, "Hey. C'mon, Korra. Snap out of it."

She covered her eyes with her palms and pressed down for a moment before sighing and lowering her hands again. "I'm okay."

Mako barely resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "Sure, you are. Let's sit down." Without waiting for her answer, he steered her toward his bed and poked her until she gave up and sat down. "Are you actually going to tell me what's wrong or should I start guessing?"

She shakes her head. "I'm just tired."

"But you came over here in the dead of night instead of sleeping?" She hesitates. "Korra, c'mon. I can't help if you don't tell me what's wrong."

"I can't sleep."

"Why not?" She flops back onto his bed and covers her face with her hands. Her answer is too muffled for Mako to hear. He sighs before laying down next to her. Once settled, he pulls her hands away and holds onto them. She stares at him. "I couldn't hear you."

Sighing, she closes her eyes. Finally, she whispered, "I keep having nightmares. I... No matter what I do they just keep coming back. It doesn't matter how tired I am. I just want to sleep, but I'm... I just can't."

She looks over at him and he can't say he's surprised to see tears forming in her eyes. "I'm guessing this is the reason for your meltdown at practice?"

"I'm sorry. I hadn't been sleeping and I was exhausted and-"

"You don't have to apologize, Korra."

"I'd never been scared before. At least, not that I remember. When Bolin asked me what was wrong, it just set me off. I didn't want anyone to know, but I wanted to tell you guys, but I didn't know what to do and-"

"Shhh. It's okay. It's normally the little things that send people over the edge, right?" She tries to smile, but doesn't quite manage it. Mako frowns slightly. "You don't have to be brave all the time."

"But I'm the avatar."

"You're not just the avatar. Everyone gets scared at some point."

"I'm not supposed to."

Mako opens his mouth to continue arguing, but realizes it's useless. He won't win, at least not tonight. Besides, another fight is the last thing Korra needs right now. "Do you want to stay here tonight?"

"What?"

He shrugs as best he can while on his back. "Maybe if you go to sleep knowing Bolin and I are here, you won't have nightmares. You should realize by now that, as long as we're with you, we're not going to let anyone hurt you."

"Oh. Um...okay?" She pauses. "I think Bolin is on the couch though so where should I...?"

"You can just sleep here. I'll wake Bolin and make him move back to his bed while I take the couch."

She nods as he rises from the bed. His hand is reaching for the doorknob when she stops him, "Mako? Could you..."

He turns and sees her sitting up in his bed and biting her lip. "What is it, Korra?"

"Could you maybe stay here? Please?"

He walks back over to the bed and sits down. For the first time that night, he realizes just how terrified she truly is. Mako smiles softly at her. "Yeah, I'll stay."

She moves over on the bed until she's against the wall, and he slides into bed next to her. Slowly, she moves over until she's right next to him and is using his arm as a pillow. He drapes his other arm over her waist.

"You're safe here, Korra," he whispers. When he doesn't get a response, he glances down to see that she's already fast asleep. Smiling, he presses a light kiss to the top of her head, and slowly falls asleep himself.

It's the first night in weeks that Korra doesn't have any nightmares.

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**A/N: I didn't forget that Asami exists or anything, she just... didn't really fit into the story. I hope you guys liked it! Reviews are LOVELY.**

**Also, I'm not going to add anymore onto this story, but I will be coming out with a new story (hopefully) soon that will be a collection of Legend of Korra (mostly Makorra) drabbles and oneshots so... Keep an eye out for it. :)**


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